Page 191 of Discordant Cultivation

Vale couldn’t help but smile as Kieran bounded back across the stage, close enough to flash another brilliant grin in Vale’s direction before rushing back to the front for the song’s climactic finish.

“I wish you’d share some of the secret sauce with me,” Nox mused, “if you won’t actually share Kieran himself.”

Vale’s smile turned sharp, predatory. “You want to know because you’re still not over Vander Moss rejecting you so completely, aren’t you? Affectionately, physically, manipulatively—he shut you down on every level.”

Nox sighed, a sound that carried years of frustration. “Guilty as charged.” He paused, watching Kieran command the stage with effortless grace. “Maybe you could help me try again. That collaboration with Vander we discussed could be my way in.”

Vale turned to look at Nox properly for the first time, squinting past the smug facade to see something he recognized from their younger years. Longing. Loneliness. The same desperate hunger that had lived in Vale’s chest unknowingly until the moment he’d spotted Kieran outside the train station.

Kieran is making me soft.

“I’m sure Kieran would agree to it when we get back from vacation,” Vale said, surprising himself with the concession. “And maybe I’ll give you some pointers on being moresubtle. Your approach with Vander was about as delicate as a sledgehammer.”

“You’re a good frenemy to have, Valerian.” Nox’s smile was genuine for once. “Enjoy your vacation, and don’t go off eloping. I believe we still have a deal about ruining each other’s potential weddings with terrible best man speeches.”

Vale’s attention snapped back to the stage as the song ended and Kieran approached the microphone stand, beaded with sweat, his cheeks flushed as he panted from the exertion. The concert was supposed to end here according to the setlist, but Kieran was pulling the piano bench from Vale’s piano toward the center microphone.

What are you doing, sweetheart?

“Th-Thank you,” Kieran stuttered into the microphone, still breathless and glowing. “I’m still in awe that you all stayed for the whole c-concert. I had no idea so many people already memorized the words to songs I didn’t even m-make videos for.”

As he adjusted the height of the mic stand, his voice grew softer, more intimate. “The setlist taped to the floor says I should end the concert, but I have something I’ve been w-working on for months that I want to share with you, if that’s okay.”

The crowd erupted in cheers, and Kieran blushed deep red, ducking his head with that shy smile that made Vale want to run out onto the stage and kiss him senseless.

“Please don’t r-record it in case it sucks,” Kieran said with a nervous laugh.

Vale stepped closer, positioning himself so he could see Kieran’s face clearly. He was chewing his lower lip, hands twitching toward his face for a moment before settling on the guitar with visible effort.

Finally.

Kieran began playing in A minor, the melody carrying flamenco influences that made Vale’s breath catch. Heremembered mentioning his brief dalliance with flamenco guitar during one of their late-night conversations, and the fact that Kieran had incorporated it felt strangely exposing.

A beautiful crooning melody emerged, vocalized in counterpoint to the intricate fingerpicking Kieran was doing. He took a deep breath that the microphone caught and amplified, then began in a voice that was quiet, shy—exactly how he sounded when trying desperately to be strong while wracked with anxiety.

“Listen to me clearly, I’ve been thinking that it’s time,

To break these fucking chains and leave this paradigm.

I’m stronger than I was before, I’ve learned to stand and fight;

No more cowering in corners, hiding from the light.

I don’t need your protection, your elaborate charade;

Of keeping me from living ’cause you think that I’m afraid.

I’ve grown beyond your boundaries, your walls of glass and steel;

It’s time to trust myself again, to learn what might be real…”

Vale’s heart skipped entirely.What is Kieran doing?Part of him immediately went to panic—Is this a public breakup? Is he leaving me in front of ten thousand people?

But then Kieran’s posture shifted completely. His head shook with disdain, a sneer crossing his features as his voice took on a different cadence entirely—gentler but sharp, carrying an authority that was unmistakably Vale’s own speaking patterns.

“Oh my sweet, naive little lamb, you think you’ve found your spine?

But you forget whose blood flows through those precious veins of mine.